Recently, contact-bonded paper has been used for increasing numbers of postal matters such as postcards so as to transmit a large quantity of information. The contact-bonded paper is manufactured by: folding paper which is formed by a plurality of paper pieces including information and connected with each other along folding lines; and subsequently contact-bonding the opposed paper pieces such that each piece is releasable.
For example, JP-A-5-38894 and JP-A-9-76665 propose apparatus for manufacturing such type of contact-bonded paper which basically includes: paper transfer means for sequentially transferring each paper from a paper supply section along a predetermined paper transfer path, which paper is formed by connecting a plurality of paper pieces along folding lines; paper folding means for folding each paper on the paper transfer path; contact-bonding film supply means for sequentially supplies an elongated contact-bonding film along a predetermined contact-bonding film supply path, which contact-bonding film includes two-layered transparent film each layer of which is releasably bonded to each other and bonding layers each disposed on front and back surfaces of the contact-bonding film to provide adhesion when heated or pressurized; contact-bonding film insertion means for inserting the contact-bonding film between any opposed paper pieces of the folded paper at an intersection of the paper transfer path downstream from the paper folding means and the contact-bonding film supply path; paper contact-bonding means for releasably bonding both the paper pieces of the paper into which the contact-bonding film is inserted while being pressurized or while being heated and pressurized with the contact-bonding film interposed between the paper pieces on the paper transfer path downstream from the contact-bonding film insertion means; and paper cutting means for cutting the paper into which the contact-bonding film is inserted to a predetermined size on the paper transfer path upstream or downstream from the paper contact-bonding means.
When the contact-bonded paper manufactured by the apparatus is opened from the paper pieces thus contact-bonded, the two layers of the transparent film inserted between the paper pieces are separated from each other, whereby the contact-bonded paper is expanded with the information surface of each paper piece simultaneously covered with the transparent film in such a condition that the information on each paper piece is visually recognizable through the transparent film.
The contact-bonded paper has high concealability such as privacy protection since the information on each paper piece is not visually recognized from outside until the paper is released and expanded by a receiver. Additionally, transmission cost for a fixed volume of information is greatly reduced since much more information can be transmitted by the contact-bonded paper at normal charge than by a single piece of mail. Furthermore, as the information on each piece is covered with the transparent film, preservation, water-resistance and dirt-resistance of the information is enhanced and also the appearance of the information is improved, which promotes information transmission and advertisement activities and offers other advantages.
However, the above-described apparatuses are generally mass-production types, which are appropriate for the production of notices transmitted to a great number of members from large entities such as mail-order selling companies or correspondence schools. When medium or small-sized enterprises use the large-scale manufacturing apparatus of these types to send notices to a small number of members at regular intervals, for example, the unit cost for manufacturing the contact-bonded paper drastically rises and it is thus difficult to employ the apparatus for the production of the contact-bonded paper in small lots.
Especially, contact-bonded paper manufacturing apparatus disclosed in JP-A-5-38894 uses continuous form paper and thus requires a specialized continuous form printer for printing the continuous form paper. However, printers such as those generally used for the output of personal computers in medium or small-sized companies or at home are unavailable for printing the continuous form paper.
Contact-bonded paper manufacturing apparatus disclosed in JP-A-9-76665 uses non-continuous cut paper transferred one by one, and thus the above problem does not arise. However, contact-bonding film insertion means included in the apparatus requires a complicated process of continuously inserting a contact-bonding film between opposed paper pieces of transferred paper at the step of folding the paper while supplying the contact-bonding film at the same speed as that of the paper.
Development of an invention pertaining to contact-bonded paper manufacturing apparatus which uses cut paper and has a simple and miniaturized structure and whose means for inserting contact-bonding film between paper pieces is particularly improved has been completed by JDL Engineering Co., LTD. with the cooperation of the applicant of the present invention, and the application of this invention was filed on May 2, 2002, with the application No. 2001-296979. This patent application is currently co-owned by JDL Engineering Co., LTD and KDK Co., LTD that is the applicant of the present invention.
Contact-bonding film insertion means included in the contact-bonded paper manufacturing apparatus disclosed in patent application No. 2001-296979 includes: a support plate disposed at the intersection of a paper transfer path downstream from paper folding means and contact-bonding film supply path to be vertically movable and carry a supplied contact-bonding film on its upper surface; support plate driving means for vertically moving the support plate, which driving means lowers the support plate and the contact-bonding film as one body and thereby pushes down a lower paper piece so as to forcedly open a space between paper pieces when paper folded such that the lower paper piece is slightly longer than the upper paper piece is transferred to the intersection and the upper paper piece of the paper is disposed upstream from the support plate and the lower paper piece is disposed below the support plate; and paper pushing means for pushing the paper having an open space between the paper pieces to the support plate carrying the contact-bonding film and thereby simultaneously inserting the support plate and the contact-bonding film into the space between the paper pieces. The apparatus practically requires support plate extracting means for extracting only the support plate from the paper into which the support plate and the contact-bonding film have been inserted and thereby leaving only the contact-bonding film inserted between the paper pieces.